UNCLAS VILNIUS 000679
SIPDIS
EMBASSY WARSAW FOR REGIONAL MEDICAL OFFICER
EMBASSY COPENHAGEN FOR REGIONAL ESTH OFFICER
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KFLU TBIOPRELLH
SUBJECT: FLU PANDEMIC ABATING IN LITHUANIA
REF: VILNIUS 630
Â¶1. The wave of flu and flu-like illnesses in Lithuania is
receding. In the first week of December, infection rates
were at 104 cases per 10,000 people, a decrease of 40 percent
from the 175 cases per 10,000 people reported a week earlier.
As of December 11, the GOL had attributed nine deaths to
H1N1 flu. At the peak, flu had reached epidemic levels in 57
of Lithuania's 60 municipalities, but three of those 57 areas
declared this week that they had dropped below epidemic
levels again.
Â¶2. Since November 17, according to the National Public
Health Center, 4,295 persons have been hospitalized for flu
or respiratory illnesses, with 301 of those placed in
intensive care. As of December 11, about 5 percent of
Lithuania's 1,443 schools were closed because of high
absenteeism, primarily attributed to flu. At the nadir in
late November, less than two-thirds of the country's schools
remained open. The American International School of Vilnius,
which is attended by many Embassy dependents, did not have to
close because of flu and has seen its absence rates drop back
to normal levels.
Â¶3. Lithuanian print and broadcast media continue to run
public-service announcements telling people how to minimize
the risk of contracting flu. Media also continue to report
on the epidemic, but the tone of the coverage has grown
calmer as fears have abated that the pandemic would be more
deadly.
Â¶4. On December 2 the GOL released about 50,000 packages of
antiviral drugs to supplement those that the Ministry of
Health had already released to hospitals from its own
reserves. The government also allocated 4.5 million LTL
(nearly 2 million USD) to the Health Ministry to replenish
its stocks of antiviral medicines.
LEADER